It's maybe a few moments before D's at my side. We stand there silently, but I'm focused on my breathing, calming down enough to unclench my fists.
"You left her speechless." D states quietly.
I glance at her from my peripheral, "Yeah?"
"Uh-huh, she and the others were just staring at you as you left." There's a small pause, "Do you know what Glenn said?"
I try to fight a smile as I face her. "What?"
"Damn she's scary when she's angry."
I laugh at that. I've never actually gotten angry before, definitely frustrated, but never an explosion like that. Figures that it happens when there's a cute guy around. I don't have a chance with him, what with Lori and everything, but that first impression was horrible.
"I told him he probably didn't want to see you when your were truly angry then."
Fully relaxed by now I laugh. "What did he say to that?"
"Nothing really, he just kind of paled and blinked and whimpered a little."
"I just don't see why the sisters try to rile me up so much." I sigh and take my glasses off, scrubbing my face with my hands. Putting them back on I twist to stare at the hill, groaning a little. "How am I going to face Rick? He must think so low of me."
"I did see the way you stared."
Facing her, the Cheshire grin does nothing for me. "I…yeah, no point denying it."
"True, I mean it was obvious."
I cringe, "How obvious?"
"Don't worry, I doubt anyone but me noticed. I mean I do know you and your quirks."
"He has a wife." I mumble turning away.
"Who's in love with Shane, I say you have a chance."
"Ha! That's a laugh."
"Carl adores you."
"He does, doesn't he?" I cross my arms and smirk.
"And Rick definitely checked you out."
I stare wide-eyed at her, "Really?"
"Yup."
I giggle girlishly, causing D to laugh. We eventually get ourselves under control but it's almost dark. I've told the kids thousands of times to never come down here alone and to never stay after dusk. It would be a poor role model that doesn't head their own words.
We go back up the hill; our heads bent together, whispering and giggling. Like we used to. I miss hanging out with my best friend. I know she'll always be there for me, but it's hard to see her having such a good time with Amy. Still, the blonde needs someone she can befriend. D's a great choice and they have a few things in common.
"Hey, Loz!" I hear Carl call.
I pat D's shoulder, then give it a squeeze, silently thanking her for being her, and head over to the beckoning child. Everyone's sitting around the fire pit, Carl's in between his parents with Shane on the other side of Lori. I'm not sure how that happened, would have thought Lori would be by Rick.
"What can I do for you, Grimes?"
"You're lucky!" The boy grins as he points at me.
"Of course I am," I wink, "what am I lucky for this time?"
"You were nearly late!"
"Yeah! And you said, that any of us that was caught down by the water after dark get's dunked the next day!" Louis grins, sitting on his father's lap.
"Did I say that?" I pretend to ponder.
"Yah!" The kids nod emphatically. Unfortunately, Sophia's with her mum and that thing she calls father, by their tent.
"Oh well if you say so." I shrug, "But as the troublemaker pointed out, I was almost late."
"I'm not a troublemaker!" Carl calls out in defence.
I raise an eyebrow. "Really? Let me count the ways." My thumb comes up, "One…"
"NO!" Carl cries, leaping to his feet and dashing to my side. "I'm not a troublemaker!" He grips my hand and his eyes flicker from his father to me.
"Awe," I coo. "You don't want your father to know how much trouble you are."
"Cause I'm not." he peers at me pleadingly.
"NO? Oh so was it not you who hid in the bushes and made…"
His eyes widen. "Nope," he squeaks.
"Carl's getting owned." Glenn cackles.
"You should probably stop while you're a head Carl," D grins from her spot between Amy and Glenn, "You'll never win."
"I thought you'd know that by now? Or do you need another dip?" I grin wickedly.
"No!"
I pull the boy into a hug and kiss the top of his head, "Go sit your butt back down Little Grimes."
He pouts as he shuffles back to his seat, head down and face flushed. There's laughter from around the fire. I find a seat next to Morale, who just so happens to have a spot between him and Rick open.
"You're no fair." Carl pouts.
"Pfft, if I was fair you'd win." I wink at him, getting a megawatt smile in return. "And you!" I point to Louis, just so he doesn't feel left out. "You need to stop taking notes from him."
"What?" His eyes widen adorably in an innocent expression, but I know better. "That look doesn't work on me, muchacho." There's more laughter around the fire as he pouts.
Dinner is full of laughs, with everyone reminiscing about the good old days. Shane and Lori seem a little tense, but it's not hard to see that they're happy to have Rick back. Carl clings to his father, as if he lets go Rick will disappear. The poor kid had believed that his dad was dead.
"…See I told you, dad let me skip school," Louis boasted to his sister.
"That's not fair." Eliza pouts, looking at her father with a wounded expression.
"I wish my dad was as cool as that." Glenn scoffs, "I couldn't even skip if I was sick!"
"I never skipped school." I declared head held high.
"Bullshit," D calls out, laughter in her voice.
"I did not! From Elementary school, in Canada, to Otumoetai in New Zealand I never once skipped school. If I was sick I was sick, but that doesn't count."
"And Uni was what?" She smirks knowingly at me.
"…Er…doesn't count?"
"You skipped classes?" Glenn asks as he leans forward, "No, I can actually see that." He kind of scrunches his face up as he nods.
"I will have you know, I only skipped when there was an assignment due that day."
"Did you not do it?" Rick asks from my side.
"Of course I did it, what kind of student would I be if I didn't do it." I sniff delicately at him, "I just never finished it till the day it was due. That was usually some of my best work, I'll have you know."
"What about those days we couldn't be bothered?" D grinned.
"You are to be blamed for that Missy." I shoot back, "I never would have thought of just skipping because it was boring."
"I don't believe that." T-Dog comments with a shake of his head, "There's no way she was the bad influence." He jabs his finger in D's direction.
"Oh she was." I nod.
"I agree, I just don't believe that." Glenn adds.
"To be fair, we were a very bad influence on each other." D states, grinning widely.
"Embry-yo."
D blinks but then bursts into laughter, "Cause everyone loves Embry." She manages to get out.
While we laugh, and try to get ourselves back under control, everyone else stares at us. Normally the memory wouldn't cause such hysterics, but it's more of what happened that day, the fun we had before our exam.
"Sorry," I flush, and rub the back of my neck. "It was funny."
"I don't get it." Louis frowns.
"You're not supposed to." Carl states, a grin on his face, "That's why it's called an inside joke."
"Alright, I think it's time for bed." Shane states, a smile on his face.
The next morning comes bright and early, as it does in Georgia, and I'm not surprised that I still hate mornings. It got sunny and hot in Tauranga, but the heat, the humidity, it all just seems so much worse here; especially in a hot and stuffy tent.
"Morning." D sighs as she stretches.
"Eh," I grunt and turn to face her. "I hate the sun."
"It's not so bad."
"Aussie." I snort, and groan kicking the blankets off.
"I'm not immune to the heat. I don't like it anymore than you."
"Blah." I poke my tongue out at her.
"Loz!" Carl's voice comes from the tent entrance.
"Carl." I mimic his tone, glancing at the kids' silhouette.
"We're bored." Louis whines.
"This is so cute." D whispers through giggles.
"Hey D?" Amy's figure appears behind the kids'. "Are you getting up soon?"
"I'm sorry, you've reached the tent of Lauren and D, please leave your name and message after the beep and we'll get back to you when we feel like it. Thanks. BEEP!" I grin.
"Loz, come on!" Carl's pout is obvious through his tone.
"Don't you want to hang with your dad?" I ask, finding my glasses.
"He's busy talking to mom and Shane."
Sighing softly, D and I glance at each other. "Alright, give me a moment."
"D?" Amy calls out.
"I'll be out soon."
With the appearance of Rick, D and I talked last night about what this means. We combed through our memories of the show, coming to the conclusion that Daryl would be back today. Rick, T-Dog, Glenn and him would be heading out on a 'rescue' mission. That itself brought about the massacre tonight.
Safe to say, tonight is going to be a challenge, one I'm not sure we're ready for. We've been a bit lax lately. We haven't left the camp in awhile and there's never been a time where we had to deal with them at night. I'm terrified.
Nevertheless, that's not until very late tonight. There's no point in worrying about it now. All that will do is bring attention to me and I don't want anyone to become suspicious. It'll make things harder as time goes by.
Amy drags D to the lake with the other women. I take the kids to edge of the woods. There are no immediate plans to take them in. It was a nightmare the first few times I took them into the woods. Everyone kicked up a fuss about it. Now, it's not such a huge deal, as long as I tell the parents, and who's ever on lookout duty.
Today, I'm going to continue the practice of climbing trees. It seems juvenile, but walkers can't climb, they can't do much other than walk, fall and grab. If the kids can get proficient in climbing then there'll be a way for them to escape.
The four of them turn it into a game and are happy to play by themselves. Sometimes kids just want to play with kids. Just like I'd like to hang with people my own age once in a while.
I lean against a tree and gaze around at everything. The nameless survivors seem to be converging on themselves and doing their own thing. Jim has disappeared, though a quick look around shows that he's gone to the top of the quarry and begun his digging. Dale's on top of the RV as lookout, binoculars in hand and rifle by his chair.
He catches me watching him and waves; he's got to be one of the nicest guys I've ever met. Most of the women are doing the laundry at the lake, congregated near a large smooth stone. Ed's down there, keeping watch on Carol, and if it didn't affect Sophia I'd knock him the fuck out.
But, whatever, he's not going to be living for much longer anyway.
Amy, D and Glenn are sitting by the water. The Asian is throwing rocks into the water, while the two girls have their heads bent together. I've gotten a little jealous lately. Apart from at night, and in the morning, we don't hang out much. Amy just puts me off. I wonder if D realises what's happening.
"Can we go flower picking?" Eliza asks pulling me from my thoughts.
I turn to gaze into the forest, eyes darting around, and then to the kids. "Sure, let me grab a bat or something, just in case."
They nod and continue to hang off the tree, I make a quick stop to inform the mother's of our plans, and then head back to my tent. The four of them know better than to go off when I'm not looking. It happened once; I didn't speak to them for a couple of days. Not until they were begging for my forgiveness. Safe to say they've never done it since.
Looking between the crowbar and bat, it's not too hard to decide which one to take. Bats take a bit more effort to kill with. So crowbar it is. I back out of the tent.
"Where're you going?" I jump at Rick's voice and stumble over my feet. "Whoa." He grabs me to keep me steady.
"Oh my god. Damn it Chief," I laugh breathlessly. "You scared the crap out of me."
He smiles tenderly, though that could just be me. "Sorry, didn't mean to." He pulls his hands back to his sides.
"It's alright." I smile; hoping to hell the slight sunburn hides the blush creeping up.
"Where are you going?" He raises an eyebrow, looking from the weapon to my face.
"The kids want to go pick flowers…well, the girls do."
He shifts, looing a little uncomfortable as he rubs the back of his neck, "I don't want you to think I'm coming in to change anything, but…"
He's adorable; the awkward expression on his face is cute. "I know what I'm doing Chief," I grin at him. "I never take them too far in, Dale can always see us and they're never out of my sight. And I never let my guard down." I pat his arm. "The kids are perfectly safe, and I have their mother's consent."
He chuckles, sounding as though a great weight has been lifted. "I don't doubt it, I just…"
"It's understandable." I smile warmly, hoping to god he can't see my obvious attraction. "If you want, you can come as well?"
"To pick flowers? No, I think I'll pass."
I scoff and send him a wink. "You don't know what you're missing out on." Swaying my hips and walking away, it's my hope I don't look ridiculous.
"What took you so long?" Carl complained upon my return.
"Your dad." I ruffle his hair.
Taking a quick moment to wipe my glasses, it's disgusting how often they get dirty; it feels like they haven't been cleaned properly in ages. Glenn and I can't find any glass cleaner, which means they're constantly being wiped on my clothes. It's better than not having them at all. Otherwise it'd be difficult to tell if an oncoming figure was a walker or not. I'm actually quite scared for when they break. It's only a matter of time.
Eliza and Sophia sit amongst some flowers. They're content to pick the colourful plants, making them into bracelets or crowns. Louis and Carl gather flowers for me, so that I can make something while keeping watch.
It's when the kids are ready to go back that anything happens. There's movement at the far side of the clearing, and my gaze is on the bushes instantly. I call the kids back, gripping the crowbar with white knuckles. They race behind me, and two small hands clutch at the back of my shirt. My stomach starts churning and my chest tightens. A moment goes by before a deer bursts out of the greenery, and then promptly tackled by a Walker.
The kid's scream, and luckily the Walker's so busy stuffing his face that it doesn't look up or move. Behind us the men and mothers come, the males positioning themselves in front of us and the mothers' taking hold of their children. We all just seem to watch, when it finally looks up, its head is chopped off. I continue to watch the…thing, but force my eyes away when Rick grabs my attention.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, we're fine, the Walker didn't even care we were there." My gaze goes back to the zombie, my voice distant.
"Are you sure?"
My gaze returns to him. "Yeah," I force a light chuckle, "one of those things isn't a problem. I've definitely dealt with more."
He seems to search my eyes, and he frowns, like he doesn't quite believe me. "Alright,"
"They've never gotten so close to camp before." Shane interrupts; we both look away from each other.
"The city is running out of food, they're going to have to look elsewhere for it." Glenn comments, a white knuckled grip on his bat.
More movement from the bushes causes us all to stare. Those with weapons tighten their hold and the mother's hold tight to their children. Its only Daryl who stomps out, his torso wrapped in rope with the squirrels he caught. He glares at everyone, but once his eyes land on the deer he glowers even more and sneers.
"Son of a BITCH! That…that…diseased riddled motherfu…"
"Daryl!" Dale calls, hoping to catch the Hunter's attention.
"…cker gnawing on my kill," Daryl continues spitting on the body of the Walker and ignoring Dale. "Ya reckon we could eat around the gnawed bit?" he comes closer to the deer and peers at the chewed stomach.
"I wouldn't risk it." Shane replies his lip curling.
Slipping between Shane and Rick, to stand beside Dale, the severed head near my feet groans and starts snapping its teeth. I gasp and shove the end of the crowbar into its eye socket as an arrow sinks into the top of its head. Stumbling back into Rick, eyes wide and breathing heavy, my thoughts are back onto tonight.
"You're supposed to hit the head, don't ya'll no nothing?" He sneers as he stomps over and rips the arrow and my crowbar from its head. He tosses me the weapon, as he marches past the lot of us and back into camp.
"Are you alright?" Rick asks quietly as he steadies me.
"Uh, yeah." Smiling weakly, I feel nauseous, but take off after Daryl.
This 'camp' has made me complacent, given me a false sense of security, I should have realised that they hadn't actually killed it. If one of them in the daylight terrifies me, sends me into a panic, what will tonight do to me? I jump as a hand descends on to my shoulder. Turning to see D, her apologetic smile calms my racing heart.
"Are you okay?" Her voice is low, and careful, like she knows that I'm not.
"Later." I murmur back, not ready to admit my fears aloud.
She eyes me for a moment before she nods and squeezes my shoulder. "I'm here."
Smiling back appreciatively and ready to thank her, Daryl's call of "Merle" catches our attention. We smile sadly at each other, sharing the same worried expression as we hurry to catch up with the Hunter.
"Merle!" He calls again, tossing his crossbow on to a chair. "Get your white ass out here, brother."
